Horse Heart
by Kamelia28
Summary: How long are you able to pretend? How long before you are pushed past the breaking point? This story is about the wizard, who looking for his freedom went further, than any others. Join him in his journey - will he find some happiness ? And if he does - will it be worth involving himself in another war? Warning people -this WILL be SLASH.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone. I had this idea for a story, that wouldn't leave my mind and decided to try to write it out. I would be very grateful if you let me know whether you like it or not.

Also, please, bear in mind, I am a first time writer and additionally, English is not my first language – so any advice would be appreciated.

I am in serious need of beta. Please leave me a message if you are interested and serious about it.

Please, enjoy. J

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_ Thinking_

Horse Heart

Chapter 1.

He was tired of living. He sat alone in his tiny excuse of a flat in Tokyo, Japan waiting for those vultures to show up. Don't ever say that the only two things you cannot avoid are death and taxes. It is certainly not true especially if you are freaking Boy Who Lived or some other ridiculous moniker people grant you with.

First thing wrong with this statement is that, as esteemed Master of Death you are immortal or more accurately, bloody reaper adamantly refuses to let you move on every single time, it will not even touch your soul when it floats back to your body.

Hadrian discovered it when accidentally fell down the stairs and broke his neck – well after few minutes it just popped back in place and he woke up.

Second thing wrong are the fans. After he managed by sheer luck kill Voldemort in his fifth year at the end of his adventure in Ministry of Magic, people would just not leave him alone.

He lost his godfather and any chance to privacy in one swoop. Ever since, the press, the school and teachers would not stop butting in his life. It felt as if his every step and action was scrutinized and judged by everyone. I did not help the matters that while public expected the hero to finish school, become an Auror and marry Ginny Weasley – he could not. He never admitted it to anybody but he was very much repulsed by any female walking earth and was very much gay.

Hadrian's life was still somewhat manageable while he was attending Hogwarts but when he graduated it turned into a horror story. His first action after walking out of grounds was apparating to Gringotts bank and inquiring about his accounts because it would not do to run out of funds to soon and frankly speaking, Hadrian never really got a chance to simply ask "What do I own and How much?"

He walked inside the bank and without wasting time walked up to one of the goblin bankers.

- Excuse me honorable warrior, but my name is Harry Potter and I would like to speak with somebody about my account please. – He said with slight smile on his face.

Goblin looked him with unreadable face, turned around to banker next to him and said something in Gobblydock. He stood up and walking up to Hadrian he barked sharply.

- Follow me. – Then turned around and walked off towards line of doors leading to private offices.

The wizard had to nearly run to keep up with the creature, marveling at the fast service.

They went into small but richly looking room with old-looking desk and two comfortable chairs. The moment the door closed Hadrian could feel snap of the privacy wards falling in place.

Grimly looking Goblin shot him a glance at the whole body flinch in reaction to a wave of warding magic.

- It is rare that a wizard can feel magic just as strongly as us but let us proceed. – He looked seriously at the wizard. – Why would you ask about "account" and not "account**s**"?

Hadrian looked back at banker dumbfounded.

-**What accounts? I have only one!**

The conversation that followed shook his entire world view. Since before he stepped his foot back in wizarding world he was stolen from.

Dumbledore together with most of Weasley family, Lupin and Granger were regularly helping themselves to his money. His invisibility cloak was never lent to Dumbledore by his father – he took it out from his family vault after establishing himself as Hadrian Magical Guardian (about what Hadrian was never informed).

Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Percy were paid significant sum each month ever since starting to attend Hogwarts with him. They were never his genuine friends, it seemed – that news just about broke his heart.

What was worse – there was a marriage contract drawn by Dumbledore between him and Ginny Weasley. He annulled it straight away shuddering at the mere thought of such. If he did not, on occasion of divorce, he would be willingly handing over all of his money and belongings to that whore of a girl.

_Over my dead body! –_ He thought viciously.

Lupin also was not without the fault. Dumbledore started paying him ever since his third year and haven't stopped yet. The more information Hadrian received, the more furious he became. Unfortunately the worst was still to come.

The name he went by his last 18 years of life was false. He was **not** named Harry James Potter. His true name was Hadrian Pegassus Potter, Lord Hire of Potter fortune and of creature blood.

Goblin, whose name was Bloodclaw, was his account manager and many times in the past has attempted to contact him but was always stopped. Bloodclaw offered Hadrian a ritual to uncover which creature blood he possessed. Intrigued, he agreed.

Goblin pricked his finger with silver knife taken from the desk drawer and dropped bloodied blade into a stone bowl filled with some sort of black liquid, chanting quietly in his own rough sounding language.

After few seconds silver mist started to form over the surface of the liquid. Hazy image slowly become more and more clear. The animal looked like a beautiful black stallion with long powerful legs long snow – white mane and tail. But the most surprising features were two huge coal – black wings.

- By Gods of old… - Bloodclaw whispered in awe – You are a Sleipnir!

Hadrian asked for explanation. He has never heard before about creature such as this one. In response Goblin has told a fantastic tale about son of one of the Old forgotten Gods. His form was that of a magical battle horse, who was over 30 feet tall and with tattoo of his hoofs could cause an earthquake.

According to a tale, every few centuries God's son would possess a male and make love to women, to experience a pleasure of human flesh as gods were forbidden from such.

Usually women impregnated by Him and his children were dying during labor, because gods power is not meant to be wielded by the mortals, but twice in known history such a children survived. First one was known as Salazar Slytherin. Second one was Hadrian.

Wizard had sworn Bloodclaw to secrecy and in silence started pondering uncovered information. First and foremost he was horribly angry and disappointed. Then feeling of a betrayal swept over him like wave. Absolute shock about his inheritance hit him but soon was quenched – after all – he was used to expecting the unexpected when it came to himself. Finally the rage came back.

_How dare they?! __How dare they do that to him? After all he has done, after all he suffered at the hands of Dursleys. How many times did he save others asses? And after he nearly died four times for them?! _

_That is it! No more! _

He would continue pretending, that nothing is wrong. Of course, he stopped all the payments from his accounts.

_We shall see if they ask why the money had stopped coming. No…. I don't think they will. _

Hadrian smirked to himself. He had a plan.

_Let Dumbledore and rest of them think, they have me firmly in their grasp. I shall learn all I can, I will pack everything I need and then I will disappear. I will find somewhere far away and quiet to live and let them find themselves another idiot to play hero and martyr. Then I will be free! _

It took Hadrian six years. Six long and lonely years of pretending, false smiles, bitter thoughts and sleepless nights to learn all he could.

During that time, despite attending Auror academy and farce of dating Ginny, he managed to read nearly all books and scrolls from Potter and Black libraries and make copies of all the books he could get his hands on. He also managed to buy lovely ebony, encrusted with silver snakes designs a multicompartment trunk.

Over last few years he had turned four rooms in his trunk in very comfortable and elegantly furnished one bedroom flat. He also made sure he had fully equipped potion lab and big stock of ingredients. Next room was used as weapon storage.

Hadrian discovered his love of blades of all kinds. He was dangerous with broadsword and cutlass but he was truly frightening with his long covered in basilisk venom twin daggers. He also took eye-correction potion to get rid of the glasses. His aim with short throwing blades was positively deadly.

Lastly, he converted his biggest room into a library, containing copies of complete Potter and Black libraries, as well as any other books he copied or bought over the years.

It took a fair bit of cunning, lot of planning and huge amount of determination but he finally was ready.

He had sworn goblins to secrecy; they have become his allies and over the years – close friends. Bloodclaw in particular has earned big spot in Hadrian's heart.

Many times he was wizard's biggest supporter, source of strength and trusted confidant. If Hadrian ever needed respite from watchful eye of wizarding world, he was always welcome in quiet banker's office. I did not matter if he came for a cup of tea, friendly chat, serious advice or just to sit and relax in silence – Bloodclaw has never turned him away.

Goblin was never-ending source of stories, anecdotes and myths. He helped Hadrian learn occlumency and legilimency.

It was rather funny, that wizard found it easier to trust a Goblin rather than another wizard, and to learn mental arts, trust was a must. In light of that revelation, his lack of success while learning from Snape in his fifth year was self-explanatory.

Bloodclaw also managed to get Hadrian to accept his abilities and make peace with shock of parentage. He no longer thought of serpent speaking as a dark or evil. It simply was another language, like German or French. Another revelation was that as heir to Sleipnir it was his mother tongue.

Hadrian together with Bloodclaw has spent hundreds of hours looking for any clues as to what exactly being heir to Sleipnir would mean for him. What they discovered was absolutely mind-numbing. Originally most plausible idea was an animagus form, but there was so much more than just that.

According to one of the legends, Sleipnir was not a man with ability to turn into a horse. He WAS a horse – that's why he could not take lovers by himself – only via possession. Obviously mating between horse and woman would be extremely difficult if not outright impossible.

It was said god's son has tried it before once, using magic to "ease the passage" – shall we say. This mating was the beginning of a race later known as centaurs.

Hadrian was born out of union of a god-horse and witch, not a muggle and that's why he was not a man with lower body of an equine. He was a horse in man's body.

He thought, it actually made a lot of sense. Even as a very young child, he always loved open spaces, nature called to him strongly. He hated being confined in his tiny cupboard under the stairs. He never really preferred veg over meat – but supposedly Sleipnir was omnivorous as well.

What Hadrian did notice – were his very strong and rather sharp teeth. There was a reason after all why he usually smiled with tightly closed lips.

He clearly remembered when he was in primary school and grinned at some joke, children closest to him that did see his toothy grin were afraid of him for months afterwards. Hadrian had to admit, his eye-teeth were looking a bit more like fangs than a normal human teeth – the mirror in the bathroom did not lie after all.

Another thing that came to mind was his enormous stamina and love of speed. It did not matter if the speed was achieved by broom, car or his own legs – boy- could he run. If he had space to run, Harry Hunting was rarely successful, big D and his band of bullies could never catch him.

His senses seemed to be a lot sharper than that of a normal human. His eyesight, taste, and his smell and speed of reflexes were particularly brilliant. No wonder he made seeker in his first year.

But back to his inherited abilities. Bloodclaw and Hadrian discovered, he didn't have an actual animagus form. He simply had ability to transform. What was the difference between those two; he was not bound to one animal. With a bit of will and magical tweaking, Hadrian could take on a body just about any animal, as long as animal was magical. An animagus could never become a magical animal – the forms were always those of ordinary beasts.

Hadrian, as soon as they discovered this, started experimenting. Of course he was cautious and never attempted the change by himself, only in safety of Bloodclaw office and with the Goblin present.

It did take him over a year just to change his hair into a white horse mane, but hey – the Rome was not build in one day, was it?

Slowly and with growing determination he made more and more progress every day. Finally, after nearly three years, he changed completely for the first time.

The feeling was indescribable. The sheer rightness and power of his true form was awe-inspiring.

Hadrian was huge. Nearly eight feet tall, his body was made of steel hard muscles, covered in blackest coat ever seen. Not a single blemish was to be seen except for a white lightning bolt in the middle of his forehead. His eyes were the same emerald-green color as in his human body, teeth were a deadly looking fangs and nose looked like it was dipped in freshly spilt blood. Mane and tail were long and silky, color of a pristine snow. Even hoofs were extraordinary. They were huge and shiny black, with silver shoes already on.

To be frank – Hadrian looked absolutely otherworldly.

Bloodclaw jaw was on the floor. Never before had he seen such a magnificent creature. He slowly circled around patiently standing Hadrian, admiration clear in his eyes. Suddenly he smiled wickedly. Chuckling was a truly fearsome sound, coming from Goblin's mouth.

You have done it finally, dear friend! Soon, you will be able to bring your plans to completion. Now, let's talk business…

Another three years passed since that moment. Hadrian was very busy man in the meantime. He finally completed all he wanted to accomplish. He finished preparing and stocking his trunk. He also had made an arrangement with Goblins, concerning his properties and monies.

Obviously, if he tried to sell his various houses on public market, wizarding world would immediately come to realization he was planning something. Alas, Hadrian had an idea, which suprised Goblin Nation; he quietly sold nearly all of his properties to them in exchange of few trunks full of raw gold and jewels. At the end of a day, it didn't matter wher you went, gold and jewels had value everywhere.

And there was the main problem. Hadrian was absolutely brokenhearted over one fact. Wherever he went, those bloody vultures of a fans have managed to track him regardless of a place and distance.

On the rare occasion of leave from his Auror Academy, he visited locations all over the world. From crowds of Paris, lonesome tundra of Siberia, wilds of Canadian forests to craziness of life in Japan, he was followed everywhere.

It usually took three weeks at the most, before suddenly some obsessed wizard or witch popped up on his doorstep, bubbling how great it was to meet him, what an honor it was to have him in a neighborhood.

Even when he was in his animal form, with his trunk carefully hidden, living in absolute wildness, he witnessed quiet pops of apparition of people looking for him.

Over the years Bloodclaw has removed countless tracking charms, locator spells and bloody enchantments. There was even ritual or two that had to be dismantled. Hadrian had magic of this type applied to his clothes, various personal belongings, his wand, even his hair. But every time he had them removed, new ones seemed to pop up from clear air.

Hadrian came to painful realization. There was no place on earth he wouldn't be found.

So together with Bloodclaw, they started to look for something else. In one of books in Black library he read about seer, who was known for accuracy and truthfulness of his predictions, until he started to preach about his ability to see visions of other worlds. The truth was, it was impossible to approve or disapprove how genuine they were, but just the idea of different worlds existing seemed so ridiculous to wizarding world, that he ended up being a laughing-stock.

Hadrian however took to the idea quite enthusiastically. When he was a child, wizards and witches were beings of fantasy stories until visit from Hagrid proved they existed. Who was he to say, that other worlds didn't exist as well?

Goblins were rather disappointed to risk loss of an ally but they supported him in his search.

Finally, one of the leads took him to Tokyo. Hadrian, despite of difficulty of misleading his watchdogs, as he called Dumbledore's minions, managed to arrive to the city unnoticed and found the seller of the book Goblins told him about.

Paying quite dearly for a sole manuscript, Hadrian became a proud owner of "Want to start over? A guide to different dimensions & how to get there."

Now, sitting in his tiny, acquired for short period of time flat in Tokyo, Hadrian was ready to leave. He had all of his belongings shrunk and stored in his tiny trunk, which he hung on his neck on unbreakable and made invisible chain, as not to lose it, including ten simple trunks filled with riches. It wouldn't do to end up poverty-stricken wherever will he end up going.

Bloodclaw was sitting on the chair next to him, enjoying steaming mug of Firewhiskey. He arrived month ago, as soon as wizard had let him known about the book. They spent exhausting four weeks researching the manuscript.

According to the author, he discovered how to travel to different dimensions by accident. His name was Yakumo and he was a Master of eastern ritual magic. He was attempting a rite to change his continuous streak of bad luck, but instead of expected result he opened a rift leading to totally different world.

Yakumo, curious about it, packed necessities and went throughout the rift. He spent nearly a year in a dimension, where such a thing as wizarding world didn't exist.

The world he described, was covered in vast amount of ocean and only occasional islands. The people were rather primitive and they treated Yakumo like a god because of his magical abilities.

He came back after year-long vacation and continued research of the ritual. He discovered, the magic responded to the wishes of a caster and looked for a world or a dimension, where the caster had the biggest chance of achieving happiness, be it by lack of trouble, simplicity of life or a presence of a soul-mate.

Finished reading the book, Hadrian was absolutely elated. That was what he was looking for! And additionally, unless he left manuscript behind (which he wouldn't do), Dumbledore had no way of tracking him and getting him back. Hadrian knew, that the only other person, who will know where he went, wouldn't tell a soul about it without his permission.

He could nearly taste the freedom waiting for him. He could finally be himself! The only doubt he had – which was not losing his magic in this new world – had been put to rest, as the wizard Yakumo has explained – his magic came from his blood, internally, not from his surroundings.

Hadrian decided to gift the rest of his wealth to Goblin Nation, as they had become more a family to him than any others in this world. Bloodclaw was nearly in tears, because never before has a wizard declared Goblin a family.

Bloodclaw swirled the last bit of a drink in his glass and swallowed it in one gulp. Took a deep breath and looked at quietly sitting Hadrian.

- Well, you are as prepared as you can be, my dear friend. I believe the only thing you have left to do is say your goodbyes and open the portal.

Wizard took last sip of his own beverage and stood up. Together, they spent next fifteen minutes making sure complicated ritual circle drawn in the middle of empty floor was done correctly and none of the writing done with chalk was smudged.

Hadrian went to his bedroom and changed in black leather trousers and black sleeveless vest laced at the front. On top, he put on long, olive-green travelling cloak with deep hood. He made sure all of his things were in the trunk hanging on his neck and double-checked his weapons.

In his black dragonhide boots he's had two slender daggers, on his belt hung his favorite cutlass made of matte black goblin metal, and in the harness crisscrossing his strong chest were over fifty small throwing blades. Harness was enchanted to never run out of them.

Finally, in silence, he came up to Bloodclaw and knelt in front of him. For a moment he looked into his eyes then thrown his arms around him in tight hug.

- I will miss you.

Then he quickly stood up and moved to the middle of runic circle. Taking deep breath to steady himself, he reached with his magic and touched chalked lines. The whole design light up in green fire and with loud tearing sound portal in the shape of unstable oval has opened two feet above the wizard. He looked back at Goblin and said.

- Take care of yourself my friend, and tell THEM nothing.

Then he closed his eyes and jumped up to be pulled with yank into an open rift. With bright flash of emerald flame he was gone. All that was left were smudged ritual circle and mourning Goblin.

TBC.

Please be merciful in your reviews. Continuation depends on reactions to the fanfic.

Best wishes to everyone J


	2. Chapter 2

Paste y

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_Thinking_

Horse Heart

Chapter 2

Hadrian's first experience in this new, unknown world was raging, killer of a headache. He woke up slowly, lying on his back, to a smell of fresh air, aromatic soil and grass. He sat up carefully, groaning in pain – he felt like he had been struck by a lorry.

-Great Merlin in panties, where am I?

He looked around from his sitting position. As far as he could see, he was surrounded by great expanse of a flat, grass covered land, with no sign of any other creatures or human settlements.

He took of his shrunk trunk and got a headache potion. Grimacing, he swallowed three mouthfuls and waited few minutes for his head to clear from cobwebs of unconsciousness.

Hadrian quickly decided to change into his true form, as he could cover greater distances with more haste. Not that he had any reason to make haste, but to be honest; he never had much of opportunity to enjoy roaming around in his horse body.

Within blink of an eye he was in his animal form and turning into direction of a sun he decided to explore. With more of a roar than neigh, he went into smooth canter, enjoying fresh breeze on his equine face.

Few hours later, he saw edges of what looked like great forest. Curious he went closer. The trees were unlike he had ever seen, tall and majestic. Forest itself seemed to be full of wild life and at the same time –full of peace.

Hadrian has fallen in love.

Still in is animal form, he spent days in the forest, finding lovely streams, small rivers, hidden animal paths and beautiful meadows. But there was one thing he did not find – humans.

Wizard was quite happy with that. After last thirteen years of constant public scrutiny, he was rather content to be away from people.

Nearly two weeks into his excursion in this so far, lovely world, he decided to start looking for a place to stay for a bit.

Sometime later, he came across a tiny meadow, surrounded by thick shrubbery, very much hidden from the view of unwanted eyes. In the middle of it were six large boulders hiding an entrance to a cave. Cave itself was rather small, maybe a size of a single bedroom, but dry and cozy. It was perfect!

Wizard checked if nobody still was around and changed back to human. He went inside and sat in the middle of a cave, on a carpet of thick moss. He closed his eyes and reaching with his magic, he weaved a thick net of wards inclosing whole meadow. After few seconds, he felt them snapping into place.

Now, that his new cubbyhole was safe from unwanted wanderers and wild animals, he laid proximity charms warning him of anybody coming close.

Finally, he went about adding stone colored door in the entrance and unshrinking trunk, which he has taken of his necklace. He put it on the ground, by the furthest wall of the cave and charmed it to be invisible and undetectable to anyone not knowing it was there.

He was set. Let's not forget, Hadrian had a fully functional and really comfortable flat inside his trunk. All he really needed was a safe place to put it.

Hadrian has spent next few years living in solitude, enjoying the nature and his freedom. As much as he enjoyed it thou, he started to miss human contact, so one fine morning he decided it was time to move on.

He also realized two other things. One – he had absolutely no information about the world he was currently staying in, except for a forest. Second - according to his calculations he was about 30 years old right now, but when he looked in the mirror in his bathroom, he still looked like he was in his early twenties. So it was possible, that he either aged very slowly here – or he stopped aging altogether.

_Oh well – _he thought – _we will see with time..._

There was one more change he noticed about his appearance. The more time he spent in his animal form, the more equine his human form has become. Characteristics, such as bigger chest, stronger thighs, muscular arms and high, aristocratic looking cheekbones – changes were becoming quite prominent. The most noticeable change however was his hair. Nearly waist long, it was more of a mane than human hair – and it was not his original black. Right now it was snow-white and made him look very distinguished.

Thinking about those changes, Hadrian realized, he was not overly bothered by them. It was just another thing that made him different and being honest with himself – he was always the odd one out.

So one early morning, he washed himself, dressed, packed his trunk and once again changed into stallion; he left the idyllic safety of a forest in search of humans.

He travelled for about a week, when his sensitive ears have caught sound of a battle behind a nearby hill. Curious but cautious at the same time, he changed into human and stealthily crept to the top, crouching behind a small boulder.

He cautiously peeked at the battlefield and saw group of then men on horses struggling to defend themselves from what looked like ambush by over fifty armed in swords and bows, filthy creatures, reminding him of miniature trolls.

Hadrian wasn't sure about revealing his presence and involving himself in the fight, but he changed his mind, when he saw a horse being shot with an arrow. He didn't realize until later, but he could understand equine neighs and snorts.

_My kin is being murdered! Not acceptable!_

Without realizing it, he changed into Sleipnir and with a roar he dashed into middle of a fight.

The men and the creatures alike were shocked into stillness. Following the roar, they saw the most magnificent, huge stalling gallopping from the top of the hill towards them.

The moment Hadrian has reached the battle, he went berserk. He kicked, he head-butted, he tore with his fangs, he crushed with his hoofs. Within minutes, the surviving creatures were running from him like from pack of hellhounds. He wouldn't let them however, he followed them, until the last one died with ripped out throat and crushed under his feet.

The battlefield became silent, the only sounds were panting of men and horses. Hadrian has turned to face them. Men were all tense, hands still on their swords, as if waiting for him to attack them. Fear and awe were equal in their eyes.

He snorted. As long as they didn't attack him, he had no reason too. He turned his head towards the horses. They were beautiful and well cared for. Wizard kooked at the two fallen ones. Their riders were kneeling next to them, trying to see if there was anything they could do to save them.

Hadrian slowly went loser and knelt by slender, cinnamon colored mare. He could see she would not last. An arrow pierced her side, lodged into, what he suspected was a left lung. She was wheezing and bloody saliva was dripping from her muzzle. She looked at him with her full of pain eyes and he couldn't stand it any longer.

He grabber the arrow with his mouth and pulled it out in one sharp yank. She screamed in pain. Men all jumped forward but he sharply threw his head and hissed at them. Three closest men took a step back, but didn't take their eyes off him. He turned back to task at hand, closed his eyes and concentrated.

It didn't matter in which body he was, he possessed magic in both. Hadrian took a deep breath and gently blew at the bleeding wound, praying and believing in his ability to heal it. He did not see, but the breath had emerald green color and in shape of a fog dived into the ripped flesh, knitting it and restoring to health.

When wizard opened his eyes, it was to quiet murmurs of awed men and relieved eyes of cinnamon mare.

_-Thank you my lord, I will be forever in your debt. _– He heard the whisper in his mind. Astonished, he responded thinking loudly;

_-You are welcome sweetheart, I am just happy you are all right._

Mare has nodded her beautiful head and stood up. Hadrian moved to the other horse, also a mare and repeated the procedure. Luckily neither of the injuries was immediately mortal, so both animals were fine.

Hadrian finally stood up and faced the rest of the company once more. Now he could clearly hear all of the horses whispering their thanks.

-_Well, – _He thought, – _you learn new things every day. I can speak horse! – _He chuckled, letting out a whinny.

Men were still keeping distance, until one of them stepped out and came closer. He was about forty years old, with long light blonde hair and weathered face. He stopped few steps away from him and bent his upper body in deep bow.

Hadrian was flabbergasted. He never thought he would see a man bowing before horse, but there it was.

Horses had felt his surprise and quietly whispered to him.

_-Those men are horselords of Rohan. They respect us. They cherish us. They care. They ARE friends of ours. Not enemies. We are appreciated._

Hadrian looked back ate the man and coming closer, he head-butted him gently on the arm and took a quick nibble of his hair. The man chuckled with wide smile, gently patted his neck and lightly kissed his muzzle. Hadrian of course **had to** sneeze exactly at the same time. The man just stood there shocked and covered in his mucus.

The scene was so comical that after brief shocked silence, rest of the men, including the one he sneezed at, burst out laughing. Horses also whinnied merrily and everyone relaxed.

Man wiped himself with his cloak and still grinning introduced himself to Hadrian as Théngel, king of free Rohan and expressed his thanks for assistance in battle in quiet words.

Wizard looked in his eyes and mentally replied.

_-I could not stand aside and let them slaughter you all. _

Judging by astonished amazement of Théngel, he was understood quite clearly. He continued.

_-Please, do not be frightened, I mean you no harm. I am just glad to be of help. Where are you going, if you do not mind me asking?_

Man quickly got hold of his shock and politely replied.

-We are coming back from patrol, my lord. Lately our further outposts and villages are being increasingly attacked by orks. We were tracking this group for the last four days but we were not expecting two packs of them to join and were ambushed and overwhelmed. Why do you ask, my lord?

King asked curiously.

Hadrian suddenly had an idea.

_ -I have been a bit bored lately and maybe a bit lonesome. Would you terribly mind if I joined you for few weeks? So far, I find your men and yours company most pleasing. _

Théngel eagerly confirmed his agreement and asked;

-What may we call you, my lord?

Hadrian thought for a moment then replied.

_-You may call me Sleipnir._

Hadrian has spent nearly seven weeks accompanying Théngel and his men on patrol of his lands. During that time, he has learned, he was in world called Middle-Earth. Horses were excellent sources of information and knew a lot. He was told of different races the lived in this dimension. Proud men, short but mighty Dwarfs living in caves and mountains, small and cheerful Halflings with hairy feet, majestic and immortal Noldor Elves – called Firstborn, whom resided in beautiful Imlardis, dangerous but fair Silvan Wood Elves residing in realms of Mirkwood and Lotórien.

He has learned about bane of the lands, orks and Dark Lord Sauron, which left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Finally, he was told of Istari, five wizards that existed in this land, whom were supposed to help keeping peace and balance.

Hadrian's head was reeling with all those information. Well, at least he won't be bored any time soon – he thought. For now, he decided to avoid the Istari, as in general one wizard could easily feel the other, and he had no intensions of revealing that particular secret any time soon.

It was bad enough, that the men he traveled with treated him like incarnation of god of some sort. The horses were even worse. My lord this, my lord that – even king Théngel rarely called him by his name.

Sometimes he was very tempted to change into his human form and join the men in the evenings by the fire, but he was afraid they would think him a freak or a spy. He did not know which one would be worse, and he could honestly say, he counted them all as friends now. One thing he did not think he could face - was rejection.

Such is the thing about the horses, once you earned their respect and loyalty, you had it for life. Hadrian was the same – once he made you his friend – he would lay his life for you, but once his trust was lost, he would never bestow it on the same person again.

King Théngel did not realize, but in these few short weeks he and his men have earned Hadrian loyalty, respect and friendship. Horselords may not know about it, but they gained very valuable ally that in the dark future would guarantee survival of Rohan and it children.

Hadrian was nervous. Whole day he has had a bad feeling and it only got worse when it came to sunset. They were travelling by theedgeline of Mirkwood forest and wizard could feel creeping shadows getting closer with every minute. He came to stop by king's stallion and looked at the man.

_- Théngel, there is something following us. I do not know what they are but be cautious, please. I would not suffer to lose any of you in ambush. Be aware, all of you._

Hadrian quickly informed the horses of a coming danger. They were determined to aid their riders.

King tensed and in quiet voice repeated the message to his men. All of them were looking around with their hands on hilts of the swords. Suddenly a howls could be heard, coming from direction of a forest.

- Wargs! About twenty of them! Forth Eorlingas! – Shouted Théngel, raising his sword and charging forward. Hadrian let out his own battle roar and joined the charge.

The beasts were huge; easily size of a big horse but a lot more muscled. Snouts full of sharp teeth and dripping with saliva, murderous glint in their eyes, they were running at them full speed.

Next few minutes were a blur to wizards' mind, whirlwind of crazed fighting, killing or being killed, until he heard a desperate shout from one of the men guarding their king.

He quickly stomped on skull of one of the wargs and looked for Théngel. King was separated from his men during the fight and his stallion slain. He was on the other side of battlefield, surrounded by three beasts, ready to pounce at him any time.

**Hadrian was too far!** Without thinking about consequences, he called forth his wings and jumped in the air. With powerful blast of the wind under his wings, he rose up and praying to be in time, shot towards the king like bullet.

Within seconds he landed on one of the wargs, kicked crazily the second, breaking his neck and sending him flying. Before the third had a chance to do anything, Hadrian got to him and with one bite, he ripped out his throat. Wizard run to the king and whinnied loudly, urging him to mount his back.

Théngel could not believe his eyes. He knew Lord Sleipnir was not a normal horse, for start - his size, sharp fangs, unusual coloring and ability to talk, but growing wings in the middle of a fight and aerial attack was not something one saw every day, or more like never!

Still in deep shock he managed to crawl onto wizard's back behind his wings and grab part of his mane to prevent a fall. Hadrian turned his head and projected.

_-Don't let go!_

And up he went again. He circled around the battlefield for a minute or two, but the fight seemed to be finished. As far as he could see, they lost three of the horses and two men, but overall, it could be much worse. Few of uninjured men went around killing dying wargs. He counted twenty seven of them.

He sighed, they were lucky. The beasts outnumbered them nearly three to one. The losses were really not that heavy, all things considered.

Hadrian sighed once more. It was time to land and he knew, there were questions to follow sudden appearance of his new appendages.

He chose an empty spot and gracefully landed, trying not to jostle the king too much. Théngel slid of his back as soon as stallions hoofs has touched the ground, but his legs felt like jelly and ended up sitting on his ass on the grass.

_Well, I am not surprised. I do not think men of those lands achieved means of flight yet._ Hadrian thought humorously. But very soon he was back to serious mood, as all of the remaining men and horses surrounded him - and then all of them knelt bowing down their heads.

He was absolutely gob-smacked, staring at them in shock. This was one reaction he did not foresee. He expected fear, anger and disgust maybe, but not those happy amazed faces staring at him in awe, even king has knelt before him.

Hadrian felt humbled and overjoyed. They did not kick him out. They accepted his weirdness and still respected him. If he was in his human body, in this very moment he would have cried.

He knelt in front of Théngel and said.

_-Please, stand up, both you and your men. I do not want nor need such gestures. All I need is knowledge, that rests of you are alive and well. _

_If you feel any debt, be it known that you and other horselords have repaid it already, by friendship and care granted to me end my kin. Arise and stand proud, dear friends. You do not have to bow before me._

Hadrian has spent another two weeks in Théngel's company, healing everybody after the fight and they became even closer friends.

Despite that however, Hadrian still wasn't convinced that changing into human would be a good idea. He even offered to serve as king's steed, but he was met with horrified face of Théngel and loud exclamations of thanks. King has said, he would never dare to treat him as mere steed and it would not be proper.

Privately, wizard's opinion was - Théngel was afraid he would take flight again and was scared shitless. He giggled mentally, suddenly having in his mind the image of screaming king holding for dear life while he attempted a Wronsky faint.

The problem was solved when one of the men has given king his horse and jumped on a mare behind one of the other riders.

Hadrian has escorted the men for another few days, until they reached first human settlements surrounding their destination, Edoras.

He gazed in wonder at the small stone houses and fields full of wheat and rye. Women were busily walking around, men chatting by the tavern and happy children running around and playing.

When they were spotted, group of children run up to them and surrounded them, laughing merrily and shouting. They arrived to an inn and men dismounted.

Théngel walked up to him and offered.

-Men will take their horses to stables now, for a rest. Would you prefer to go with them or will you stay outside, my lord?

People within a hearing distance were shocked to hear their king to speak to a horse in such a manner. Yes, it was a magnificent animal, but a horse non the less. How he was supposed to answer?

_-No, thank you Théngel, I prefer to remain outside. I would be grateful, however, for water, bucket of rye and two pounds of fresh meat._

King nodded his head with smile and giving him a quick kiss on the muzzle, sent the man nearest for the things Hadrian asked for and walked into the tavern. Few minutes later, water and meat was delivered.

Wizard went straight to a water-bucket and emptied it in few gulps, mentally complaining about missing good ale inside the tavern. The man who brought meat, was holding it, waiting, not sure what was it for. Hadrian, feeling playful, walked up to him and gave him up close big horsy grin, revealing his sharp fangs.

Man yelped in fear, closed his eyes and blindly brought the meat up to his muzzle, hoping not to lose a hand to that frightening creature.

Hadrian, feeling quite sorry for his little joke, gently took the meat from his hand and swallowed it quickly, nearly without chewing. Then he licked the man across his face in thanks and nuzzled his hair for a bit.

In the meantime another man has brought another bucket, full of rye, so Hadrian left poor, traumatized man to clean up his horse spit and went to finish his meal.

Hour later Théngel got out of the building and came up to him again.

- My lord, we are going to rest here for another couple of hours, but all of us miss home, so we are going to make haste. There is another five hours ride to Edoras. What would u like to do in the meantime?

Hadrian has done a bit of thinking and answered.

_I am going to have a bit of exercise, as I am feeling wee bit restless. I hope you would not mind? I will be back before we continue our journey, but in case of delay – do not worry. I will easily catch up. I have promised myself to see you to the gates of Matusaleh, so it shall happen._

-My lord, allow me few minutes to inform the men not to disturb you and let you be. I would not suffer to see you chased away. – King has said.

Hadrian still in his playful mood decided, he might just as well cause a bit of chaos and make arrival of their king memorable for those friendly villagers.

He shook his head and whinnied loudly, then looked at Théngel and winked at him. King knew straight away, he was planning something. Over the period of last few weeks, Hadrian's mischievous nature become became rather well known to his men and himself. Groaning mentally at chaos that was sure to fallow, he took a step back and said loudly.

-Have a good time, my lord. We will be waiting for your return.

Hadrian snorted playfully and released his wings. Gasp of shocked whispers came from people standing around them. He whinnied again and took a running start, jumping into air and flying away.

Wizard has spent calm and relaxing morning, stretching his wings and trying to recreate some of aerial maneuvers usually done on the broom. He had to admit, it was lot of fun.

When he returned to the village, one of the men he travelled with respectfully informed him of an hours' delay, as some of the men were not ready yet. Hadrian was quite all right with that and nodded to let him know, it was fine.

Feeling quite filthy, he went to find somebody to help him with it, as he did not want to risk changing back in a village. He spotted one of the men, that brought him his fine meal and trotted up to him. He looked him in the eyes and mentally projected.

_-Would you be a dear, my dear human and give me a wash?_

The man stopped short and fainted from shock.

_In the hindsight, maybe it was not such a good idea… - _thought Hadrian,

It did cause a bit of commotion and Théngel was once again called out from the inn to resolve the issue. The king was treated to a sight of a grumpy Sleipnir and an unconscious man, lying in front of a stallion.

He took a deep breath and asked what happened, fearing the man has offended Lord Sleipnir somehow. Fortunately the answer was innocent enough, if not extremely funny.

_- It was not my fault, Théngel! – _The wizard rationalized. – _All I asked for, was a simple wash, as I am feeling quite grimy, and the man – flop! – He fainted!_

Théngel could not hold in his mirth anymore and burst out laughing. People standing around were not sure what to think, because it looked like their king has hit his head once to many times and went mad! Finally, he managed to calm his laughter and said aloud in the way of explanation.

- Dear folks, the only reason that poor man is lying here at your feet, is because of shock of Lord Sleipnir asking for a bath! – And he started laughing again.

Villagers were still not sure what was going on, until kings men came out of the tavern and explained, Lord Sleipnir **could** speak by looking into one's eyes. Then finally, the hilarity of a situation was widely understood and for a moment there was not a person not laughing.

Before royal companions have left, people were treated to a rare sight of their king washing and attending a horse.

After a relaxing wash and brush, much happier Hadrian and still grinning king finally decided to continue last part of their journey to Edoras. Men mounted their horses and whole company has ridden out of the village.

Next five hours went without any major trouble and soon they could see fortifications surrounding their town.

Hadrian has escorted them right up to the gates, but refused invitation of coming in. He still had much to see and places to go, before he would consider settling down again. Wizard said his heartfelt goodbyes and promised to visit in the future. He truly felt sad to leave his new friends, but he had a plan and was determined to see it thru.

With the last nibble to Théngel's hair, he turned around and galloped back into grass-covered hills.

When he was far enough not to be overseen by anyone, he changed back to human, took off his shrunk trunk and getting it back to normal size opened it. He went inside and spent couple of minutes looking for a piece of jewelry suitable for the purpose he had in mind. Finally he found a golden ear-stud in shape of a winged horse. He smiled satisfied – it was perfect!

He sat down and concentrated, reached with his magic and started waving multiple protection and luck enchantments, adding low powered healing charm or two. Next was a locator spell – in case he needed to find the king quickly.

Lastly, he applied strong listening charm tied to his Sleipnir name and Théngel's emotions. If the king ever shouted his name in distress, he would hear it and be able to apparate directly to Théngel's location.

He picked up a new piece of parchment and quickly scribbled few lines across it, signed it and once rolled up, stuffed it in his pocket.

Once finished with his task, wizard grabbed his broom (which he also took with him from Earth), got out of his trunk, shrunk it back and put it away. He made sure he still had the ear-stud and parchment in his vest's pocket, sat on his broom and made himself invisibl. He flew back to Edoras at dusk.

When he got back, it was already dark, what suited his plans very well. He landed softly on the roof of Golden Hall and took out his rarely used phoenix-wand from his wrist holster. He put it on his palm and whispered softly.

-Point me Théngel's bedroom.

Wand twitched and turned, pointing to the left. He quietly crept across the roof, towards big stone wall connecting Matusaleh with building housing the royal family.

Still invisible, he silenced his footsteps and following his wand's lead, stealthily sneaked inside the house through the open window. He saw wide stone corridor with couple of doors leading to, he assumed, people personal chambers. The door on the furthest end of a passageway belonged to Théngel.

Hadrian has crept inside. The room was spacious and had Spartan furnishings, but one could easily see, it was a chamber of a noble. There were high quality weapons situated on the rack, solid but intricately carved wooden wardrobe was filled with beautifully crafted clothes, heavy silver candleholders were hanging from the walls.

In the centre of the room stood four-poster bed, made of polished oak and covered in warm furs.

Hadrian walked up to it and put a parchment with a note and golden ear – stud in the middle of it. He turned around and quietly made his way out.

He managed to leave the building without alerting patrolling guards and once he was back on the roof, he picked up his broom and mounted it. Within minutes he was quite a distance away from the Golden Hall.

Few hours later, tired and little bit drunk king has arrived back to his chamber. He clumsily undressed and just as he was about to lie down, he noticed the note and a golden trinket. He shouted loudly for guards.

Within seconds, three of his men run into the room with their swords drawn and ready to defend the king. Théngel said in grave voice.

-We have intruder! Search the area immediately.

Guards have walked out and proceeded to do so. Unfortunatelly, they never found the trespasser.

King, on the other hand, went back to his bed and picked up the note, leaving piece of jewelry lying on the fur.

Penned in distinguished, slanted writing, the note said;

_Dear Théngel,_

_As a token of my thanks for your friendship, allow me to leave you a gift. The little golden piece, is a jewelry from place of my birth. It is an ear-stud, which you pierce your ear with and may be used as decoration. _

_For you my friend, it will also have a different purpose. If you wear it and ever find yourself in danger, shout my name and I will heed your call._

_Never lose it, for as long as it is in your possession – I will hear you._

_May we meet again in good health._

_ Sleipnir_

TBC.

That is the end of chapter 2. Hopefully, you have enjoyed reading it and will be nice enough to leave a review. All of them will be appreciated. Best wishes to everyone, bye-bye! J

our document here...


	3. Chapter 3

Normal text

_Thinking_

_"_Talking"

Horse Heart

Chapter 3.

Hadrian spent few hours on his broom, flying in direction of the site, where Théngel's men were ambushed by wargs those weeks ago. He's had an inkling of a plan hatching in his head.

As it had been explained to him – orks, wargs and goblins were servants of Sauron. After his fall their numbers have greatly diminished, but they didn't completely disappear. It seemed during years following; they bred and again started to pose a serious danger to the rest of inhabitants of Middle Earth.

Hadrian smiled viciously. It's not like he had that much to do. Taking into consideration his magical power and knowledge of battle spells – those accursed creatures would soon find formidable new foe.

It was rather funny, when wizard thought about it – he never really liked fighting (more like despised it), but now – he actually welcomed the challenge and the thrill of struggle to overpower his opponent. However, he had a small problem as he didn't know where he would most likely find those beasts. Hence his decision to go back to said battlefield. He needed a starting point.

Hadrian managed to find the place three hours after the sunrise. He looked at the great forest growing next to it. If he remembered correctly, wargs emerged from there. So, in he went.

Lately, he felt so much more secure and natural in his stallion form that he rarely changed back to human. Without thinking, he shifted into Sleipnir as he went in. The forest was unlike any others he's been to. Trees were old and very tall but at the same time, they seemed darker and one would say – angry. The shrubs and bushes covered forest's floor, minimizing visibility. Some animals were present but it was as if they were ghosts instead of living flesh and blood. Heavy silence encompassed the surroundings.

Hadrian thought about one forest he could compare it to – the Forbidden Forest by Hogwarts School, from his old world.

He trotted unhurriedly, trying to spot a clueof some kind, leading to warg's den. Soon he found hidden trail, full of muddy paw-prints that could only belong to a canine creatures of considerable size. Following the tracks, he went deeper into the woods. The deeper he went – feelings of all-consuming darkness and despair intensified. Wizard shuddered, eerie presence strongly reminded him of being in vicinity of dementors.

_It is simply impossible. There is no way those soul-suckers can be here! I wonder if this is natural._

He snorted. In his animal form, wizard knew that he was less affected than a normal human would be. He felt sorry for any creatures this forest was home to.

After some time Hadrian came up to what he thought was entrance to some sort of tunnel or a cave. He decided to proceed very carefully and started with scouting an immediate area surrounding the lair.

He breathed deeply, scenting the air. Hadrian could smell fresh and decomposing vegetation, squirrels, deer and – spiders?

_That was strange. _– He thought.

Usually he could not smell the little critters unless he stepped on (splattered) a particularly big one, but this time the scent of eight-legged insects was almost overwhelming.

Now, that he thought of it, he remembered noticing few rather big spider-webs, hanging between trees here and there on his way.

His head quickly swiveled around, trying to spot one, as the smell was intensifying. To his horrified amazement, he saw no less than fifteen. They were bloody huge. Hadrian had a sudden sense of de-ja-vu.

_What the hell are acromantulas doing in here?!_

Without the second thought, he was wizard again and whipping his wand out of his wrist-holster, Hadrian hissed in serpent-tongue.

"Fiendyfyre!"

During third year of his independent studies after he graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hadrian discovered, he had a lot stronger control over his magic if the incantation was spoken/hissed in Parseltoungue. So, when he summoned Fiendyfyre, magic has read his intentions and followed it to a T. Suddenly, there were snakes, dragons and hydras made of white-blue fire, attacking giant spiders and burning them to ashes. The forest, however was not even touched. The moment critters were no more, fire went out with a screech.

Not wanting a repeat of a story, Hadrian disillusioned and silenced himself. It was time to hunt.

Severely pissed off, he memorized location of the cave for later, he decided spiders were going to be his priority for now and went looking for more arachnids.

As his senses were much better than that of an average man – even in his human form, following his nose, he found another trail leading deeper into the creepy woods.

The forest was never-ending. At least that was the feeling Hadrian got after nearly two weeks of travelling and killing acromantulas all the while. Spiders seemed to love those woods. It was absolutely perfect enviroment for them, the moisture and lack of light would only help them populate the place. So far, wizard counted two hundred and twenty – seven insect, raging in size from smaller than a dog to a fully grown giants, that he killed with either magic or his blades.

He realized, he was safer staying as a wizard than stallion, as it was easier to manoeuver and he had faster reactions. That is not to say he did not take extra precautions, he travelled disillusioned and silenced his footsteps. He was currently following a scent of what he thought a particularly big grouping of arachnids.

Hadrian slowly and stealthily moved forward, paying attention to his surroundings as he did not want to get ambushed. Once was enough – thank you very much! As he passed thick thorn-bush, he heard excited clicking of pincers and terrified whimper.

Creeping closer, he came up to a small clearing. On the edge of it lied body of a horse, with ripped apart belly and intestines stretched into macabre imitation of a spider web. Few yards away was a big spider, busy wrapping in its silk a bloodied body of a humanoid of some kind.

Wizard suddenly threw away any thoughts of stealth and in dead run approached the critter, his twin blades bared in his hands. Before beast had a chance to turn around to face new danger, he jumped onto its back and separated the head from the rest of its body. Spider collapsed and died twitching it's legs.

Hadrian nimbly jumped of and cautiously moved closer to a spider's victim, as the horse was beyond any help already. It appeared to ba a young male with long, now dirty and tangled blonde hair, very pale and blue-veined skin and most azure, almond-shaped eyes Hadrian has ever seen. The male was somewhat conscious, because as soon as he noticed the wizard, he tried - the key word was **tried –** to move away. It was however impossible, as the critter nearly finished wrapping him before Hadrian killed it.

Wizard could clearly see the male was terrified, as regardless of determined face and challengingly lifted chin, blond was shaking ever so slightly. Or it might have just as well been effect of a spider venom in his blood , his bleeding thigh bearing signs of arachnid's bite.

Hadrian dropped his disillusionment charm as it was clear male has seen him anyway. Curious but also worried about male's ability to see through his spells, he knelt on the ground, keeping his face firmly in the shadow of his hood. Moving closer, he lifted his hands, palms up, silently showing his lack of weapons and trying to convey desire to help.

Blonde had lift up his head weakly and in very melodic sounding language quickly whispered few words. Judging by the tone it was a question of some sorts.

"Wish I could understand you sweetheart, I bet you want some answers as well." Hadrian chuckled to himself.

"You are going to be alright, sunshine – now lets see about getting you out of this cocoon." Murmuring softly to put the male at ease, Hadrian slowly moved his hands towards blonde's feet, touching deceptively strong silk threads. Under watchful gaze of azure eyes, he started ripping it apart, freeing male's legs. He stopped at his left thigh, long gash started bleeding again after removal of bonds that kept steady pressure on the wound, stopping earlier blood-flow.

Blond flinched as the injury must have seriously pained him. Wizard whispered quiet "Aquameti" and cupped palms above the wound filled with cool water, which flowed down gently washing away the blood and cleaning it. Male stilled and gazed in wonder at Hadrian, shocked at his actions. Once finished, wizard gently put his right hand on blonde's leg, covering the gash and closing his eyes, concentrated on neutralizing venom and healing the thorn flesh. After few minutes, when he lifted his hand, all of what remained from previous wound was thin jugged pink line of a scar.

Sorted that out, he continued removal of the silk until he completely freed the male. The moment it happened, blonde was on opposite side of clearing in a flash, long dagger in his hand and ready for combat in crouched stance. Without any sudden movements, Hadrian slowly stood up and keeping eye on him he moved back to the forest, as he was not that keen on company of a stranger who could see through his disillusionment charm. When he was sure he could not be seen, wizard aparated away with a quiet crack.

It wasn't until later, when Hadrian felt a strong urge to walk up to a nearest tree and bash his head on it. Firstly – him not understanding a strangers language – he was a wizard for Merlin's sake! Why did he not think to use legilimency again and just project his thoughts? Secondly – of course the male could see through his disillusionment – he was a fay of some sort, maybe a high elf even. He's had pointed ears! Hadrian has noticed this little detail when blond jumped away from him but at the time, it did not sink in what could it mean.

Hadrian did walk up to a tree and did start hitting his head on it when he realized the most important thing – being able to be understood – he could have made clear he was not an enemy and get a new friend.

He also realized one other thing. Thinking back, the elf (assuming he was one) did not have much in a way of equipment with him. He either lost it or it could mean, that he didn't plan on going far from his home. It was entirely possible that forest had more residents than just giant spiders, wargs and other animals. Also Hadrian had to take into consideration elf's lack of steed, as the horse was slain by acromantula. Being on foot in woods such as those was a dangerous thing.

Luckily enough, wizard held a solution to both – satisfying his own curiosity and ensuring safety of unlucky blonde. After all – he was a stallion – wasnt he?

With mischievous smile on his face , he apparated back nearby the location he left the elf and morphed back into his four-legged form. Creeping closer, he discovered the clearing was empty. Even equine carcass was gone. Letting his nose lead him, Sleipnir found entrance to small natural cave, covered by fresh soil and small stones. Judging by bloodied tracks, elf made it into resting place for his animal companion. From there he could see a trail of footprints following one of natural animal paths, leading to one of many streams flowing through this forest.

Going from walking into a bit faster trot, Hadrian was hoping to catch up to an elf soon. The day was ending and shadows were stretching, giving the forest even more frightening appearance. Suddenly he heard a shout from further down the path. Giving a sigh, Sleipnir fastened his pace.

_Is seems elf is a magnet for trouble. Wonder what is it this time – hopefully not another acromantula. I have had just enough of them!_

Soon, Hadrian caught up to see the elf trying to fight of one warg, while the second one was attempting to circle around and get him from behind. Rolling his eyes at predictability of such a manoeuver, Sleipnir whinnied loudly and dancing on his hind legs, challenged sneaking warg to a fight. The beast took few steps back and made a running leap at him. He jumped to the side and just as the warg was flying by him he snapped with his fangs and ripped beast's throat out. Leaving now twitching animal, wizard turned around only to see elf cut off other warg's head with his dagger.

There was a moment of stillness after the ending of a fight, but soon enough, the elf was slowly walking up to him, dagger still held guardedly in blond male's hand. Elf held himself in non-agressive posture but was prepared to respond in kind if Sleipnir showed any signs of attacking him as well. Personally Hadrian thought the elf was smart, keeping such a caution.

Wizard let him approach and minding his previous mistake looked straight into blond's eyes, in quarter of a second locating and basically "downloading" the knowledge of beautifully sounding language the male used earlier that day. Gritting his teeth at the headache resulting from such an influx of information, he waited for what elf would do next.

Blond stopped two feet away from him and bowing lightly said.

"Thank you, noble friend, for helping me out in the fight. I would surely be killed by second wolf, had you not lend your assistance." Obviously elf did not expect an answer, he looked at Sleipnir sweeping with his eyes his powerful body, unusual coloring and peeking fangs. He did not see the wings as Hadrian did not released them. Still wizard knew he was far from normal horse.

Elf did not seem discouraged and looking back into his eyes, he stretched forth his hand and gently patted him on the thick neck.

"I wonder if you could do me a favour, my friend. Would you allow me to ride you? I lost my mare to a spider-attack and need to get back home before my father has an aneurism." His lips turned up in small smile and eyes twinkled mischievously. "I am sure you would help me to surprise my brothers. They always were teasing me, that no stallion knowing his worth would allow me to come close – and here you are – even letting me touch you. Will you help me, please?"

Hadrian whinnied happily and nodded with his head, as elf has played perfectly into his plan. He did not project his thoughts because he decided to pretend to be just an animal – maybe a bit unusual – but only an animal. That way elf will not mind what he talks about around him and it was a brilliant way of gathering information.

He turned, offering blond male his back and bent front legs to allow him to get on. After all Sleipnir was a bit taller than your average stallion and elf had a tiring day. Legolas – as elf had introduced himself, was very gentle and skilled rider. He did not manhandled him, elf was using his own body movements to lightly sway in direction desired. Sleipnir had no problem to follow his lead and the journey was fairly pleasant one.

They stopped for the night in another small clearing, so well hidden away that Hadrian would have missed it if not for light urging by Legolas to walk of the trail. It was perfect place for rest, bushes surrounding it so thick they created a natural wall keeping most of the predators away. It also had fresh, succulent grass, which Hadrian not wanting to risk changing **and** being rather hungry was eyeing with suprising appetite.

As soon as elf got off his back, he trotted up to a patch of lovely green and had a late dinner. Legolas decided to risk a fire and left to gather some dead wood. He came back few minutes later with bunch of it and after clearing small circle from vegetation, he expertly piled twigs into cone shape. He put little of dry grass in the middle and from his hip-pouch withdrew a flint to start the fire. Within minutes they had a small bonfire crackling merrily and providing enough light to comfortably see the whole clearing.

Finished satiating his hunger, Sleipnir walked up to elf sitting ny fire and laid down for a rest. Legolas slowly shuffled closer and checking if it was alright, leaned back against his side, relaxing.

"Tomorrow we should arrive home. I believe we are just half day away from Mirkwood palace. I will introduce you to my family, noble friend. Soon, you will enjoy hospitality of Sylvan elves."

Having said that, blond has relaxed further, easing himself into sleeping trance. Hadrian also decided to get some sleep, as next day was sure to be exciting. He could not wait!

TBC.

Dear readers, I would like to thank absolutely everybody for the reviews you wrote about my story. I am shocked at the number of people interested in it and I promise - I will not abandon it. I do apologise for my grammar but I still do not have beta. If anyone is interested - please - PM me and I will be very grateful.

Also if you do not like my story - why bother reading it? in my opinion leaving reviews like "Your story is ****!" is unnecessary and hurtful. I do appreciate all advice you can give me and I do thrive on your attention. Please keep reading and reviewing. Best wishes to everybody :) xxx

Kamelia28


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